A Sri Lankan sex offender seeking asylum in the UK was flown 5,000 miles by private jet for medical treatment in the Middle East at British taxpayers' expense.
The clandestine operation was launched after the man, 34, made an apparent suicide attempt on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
He was flown to an unknown Middle Eastern country where he received emergency surgery before being returned on the same jet.
The total cost to British taxpayers was nearly £100,000.
The operation came after the migrant lost a High Court appeal against Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to refuse him asylum.
The migrant lost a High Court appeal against Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to refuse him asylum
PAFollowing his suicide attempt, British diplomats are now trying to find a third country willing to take him permanently.
The sex offender was part of a large group of Sri Lankans who fled their country on a fishing vessel in 2021, with the UK accepting 61 of them.
He was not included in this arrangement because of a six-month sentence he received for assault and sex attacks committed while on Diego Garcia.
The man claims he cannot return to Sri Lanka after allegedly being tortured by the country's military.
But as the Chagos Islands are not under the jurisdiction of the European Convention on Human Rights, nor the Refugee Convention, the asylum seeker can not use these to aid his appeal.
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The sex offender was flown to a unknown Middle Eastern country where he received emergency surgery before being returned on the same jet (file photo)
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The High Court ruled it was lawful for the Foreign Office to seek an alternative country for the sex offender.
Mr Justice Chamberlain accepted that the man had never had any legal right to enter the UK.
He noted that risks to public safety and confidence in the immigration system were "real".
The judge declared: "Admitting the claimant in these high-profile circumstances would tend to undermine the UK's international commitment to tackling violence against women and girls."
The Foreign Office is currently in discussion with five states about potentially taking in the man.
LATEST FROM THE CHAGOS ISLANDS:
The migrant was not allowed into Britain because of a six-month sentence he received for assault and sex attacks committed while on Diego Garcia
REUTERSMinisters have also been negotiating with Mauritian authorities to prevent the Chagos Islands from becoming a backdoor route into the UK - despite a looming "surrender" deal.
One diplomatic source said: "The public deserves to know about this ridiculous use of their money - being spent giving world-class private medical treatment to sex offenders in Diego Garcia and flying them around by private jet."
The source added that questions over British sovereignty of the Chagos Islands had complicated such cases.
A Foreign Office spokesman responded: "This Government inherited a deeply troubling situation that remained unresolved under the last administration for years after the migrants' arrival on Diego Garcia."